Peace and Greece

Shot for "Common Crimes"—i.e., Resisting the Nazi Occupation

The Athens Government tried to deceive world public opinion by asserting that the patriots, who had been sentenced to death two or three years
ago, were being shot now, allegedly, for "common crimes." Certain sentences
passed by the Greek courts prove that this assertion is perfectly untrue. The
court of appeal at Thebes by its sentence No. 44 of September 17, 1947,
condemned to death Elephterios Barbounis because he had killed at the beginning of 1944 a member of a Security Battalion, during a fight between the
ELAS detachment in which Barbounis served and the said Security Battalion,
which fought under the command of a German officer. The court of appeal
at Lamia by its sentence No. 26 of December 22, 1947, condemned to death
Vasilios Dimfotos, because he had killed a Greek quisling who was serving the
Germans as a guide in German uniform during the fighting against the ELAS
forces. This "murder" took place during a fight between the Germans who
were guided by the said quisling and the ELAS detachment in which Dimfotos served.

There have also been cases where the tribunal condemned patriots of the
Greek resistance movement for allegedly having assassinated persons who were
actually still alive or who never existed. Thus for instance, Alias Deloglou
was condemned to death and shot for having killed a certain Dimitropoulos.
In the course of the trial it became known that Dimitropoulos was alive. But,
Deloglou was shot just the same. Eftimios Coscoletos was accused of having
killed, during the occupation, a certain Nikolas Efstatiu from Aso, near
Corinth. During the trial the mayor of Aso proved that this Nikolas Efstatiu
never existed, neither at Aso nor in any other of the surrounding villages.
Nevertheless, Coscoletos was condemned to death and shot. (Blue Book,
page 42.)

It is estimated that the tribunals have condemned to death more than
2,900 fighters of the Movement of National Liberation, who fought during
World War II for the cause of the United Nations. They have been condemned for alleged "crimes" of this sort, on the basis of accusations which
were only a pretext for the extermination of political enemies.
Naturally these crimes, these frightful abuses of authority, have aroused
the indignation of democratic people throughout the world. In many countries, in Great Britain, the United States of America, and here in France, for
instance, protest meetings were held. Voicing the unanimous feeling of the
Soviet peoples, on May 14, 1948, the Government of the U.S.S.R. handed the
Greek Government a note drawing attention to the protests and indignation
which the mass shooting of Greek fighters against fascism evoked, saying that
Soviet public opinion demanded an immediate stop to these crimes. The Government of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia addressed a similar
note to the Greek Government on May 18. Even the French Government
instructed its representative in Athens to ask the Greek Government to
explain the massacre of these soldiers of liberty. And the British Government,
under pressure of public opinion, tried to absolve itself of responsibility for
these events by a "Declaration."

The United States Government, however, immediately issued a statement
that the United States of America had "no intention to protest"; which
obviously was intended to embolden the regime in Athens to resist the pressure of world opinion and to carry on with its crimes. Similar encouragement
was given by you last year, Gentlemen, when you voted on the resolution
concerning Greek affairs, by which you also incurred heavy responsibility.

It often happens in Greece that even the summary justice of a court
martial is dispensed with. Then democrats are assassinated in the streets or in
the prisons. As early as 1947 the public opinion of the world was stirred by
the news of the assassination of Zevgos, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece, by police agents who admitted the crime.
So far the murderers have not been put on trial. These practices continue. We
read in the Greek press that in January 1948 Poulides, a well known Athens
lawyer, who was also a counsel for the Yugoslav Legation in Athens, was
killed in the streets of Tripolis, while the police were in the vicinity. No one
has been brought to trial for this murder, either.

A particularly savage terror is exercised, and cruel massacres of the
population are perpetrated by organized fascist groups, especially by the
X-ites and MAY. The MAY, an organization "for the protection of the
countryside," is shown by official documents to be recognized by the Athens
regime as a military formation, and is supplied with arms and clothing by the
American Mission. The operations of both the X-ites and MAY are conducted
by army commanders. These groups are scattered all over Greece and are used
as an instrument of terror by the Army and the Ministry of Public Security.
When their crimes become public, the Government tries to deny them, but
everyone knows, and official documents prove, that the Government is giving
its support to these terrorist units and is making use of them.

The fact that these fascist organizations have been terrorizing the Greek
population for three years with impunity and without being held responsible
for their criminal actions, clearly proves that they enjoy a favored status. Here
are a few admissions found in the Greek rightist press concerning this matter.

The newspaper Elephteria in its issue of May 25, 1948 published an
article by a lawyer, signed I. M., in which we read: "Three X-ite chiefs,
Pavlakos, Kamarineas, and Gerakaris are operating in Laconia. They are
responsible for hundreds of murders, rapes and acts of violence. In the village
of Selenitsa, Gerakaris killed 35 men, women, old men and children. He raped
the daughter of Vasilos Kivelos in front of her mother and slaughtered both
of them, as well as thirty other inhabitants of the same village. Pavlakos,
Gerakaris and Kamarineas, come from the Security Battalions (formations of
collaborationists during the war). They entered Kalamata, opened fire on
people at random, and have not been punished for this. Another chief with
the name of Pavlakos, who lived at Levetsova, in the region of Sparta, compelled a boy of 16 to kill his own mother in the village square, without any
reason; threatening to kill both of his sisters and himself if he failed to carry
out this order. And the child actually murdered his mother Stavroula Theoharaka. The inhabitants of the village fled during the attacks of these bandits."